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Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan

The Neighbourhood Plan is a community-produced document that sets out a vision and objectives to help shape the future of the area. A Neighbourhood Plan for Ham and Petersham was adopted in 2018. The Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum is now applying for the renewal of the designation in order to support the ongoing implementation of the Neighbourhood Plan.

Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum is redesignated

On Monday 9 March 2020, the redesignation of the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum was approved for an additional five years. The designation is valid until 8 March 2025.  

Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum Redesignation

Richmond Council received an application by members of the community in Ham and Petersham, including representatives of Ham and Petersham Association, Ham United Group and other local groups and organisations, to be formally redesignated as a Neighbourhood Forum, in accordance with the Neighbourhood Planning (General) Regulations 2012.

The Council has consulted with the local community, residents and other interested stakeholders on the application between Friday 13 December 2019 and Monday 27 January 2020.

The Neighbourhood Forum will continue to monitor the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan and determine when a partial or full review is required. No other organisation or body may be designated for that neighbourhood area until that designation expires or is withdrawn.

We consulted the community on the following documents:

Also, you can have access to this documentation at:

  • Civic Centre, 44 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3BZ
  • Ham Library, Ham Street, Richmond, TW10 7HR

The Council is inviting comments on the redesignation on the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum. This consultation does not relate to the adopted Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan. Any comments should relate to whether the Forum should be designated as a neighbourhood forum for another five years. Anonymous responses will not be accepted.

Representations should be emailed to LocalPlan@richmond.gov.uk or posted by 5pm on Monday 27 January 2020:

Attention: Planning Policy and Design
Civic Centre
44 York Street
Twickenham TW1 3BZ

Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan 2018 to 2033

A referendum on the plan was held on 18 October 2018, with 84% of participating votes in support of the plan.

As a result, the plan will now be used alongside Richmond’s Local Plan to assess planning applications within the Neighbourhood Area.

Adoption

Following the successful referendum result, it was resolved by Richmond Council to formally adopt the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan on Tuesday 22 January 2019.  An 'Adoption' version of the plan has been published in conjunction with this decision, which incorporates a number of non-material changes from the "Referendum" version.

Hard copies of the plan are available to view at the following locations during normal opening hours:

Prior to adoption, the Plan was subject to various public consultations, an independent examination, and a local referendum.  Further details of these stages can be found below.

Referendum

In accordance with the requirements of the Localism Act 2011, the Council are satisfied that the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan, as amended by the modifications set out in the Council's Decision Statement, meets the 'basic conditions' and other legal requirements, and as such was progressed to a referendum on Thursday 18 October 2018. The question asked at the referendum was: 

"Do you want London Borough of Richmond upon Thames to use the Neighbourhood Plan for Ham and Petersham to help it decide planning applications in the neighbourhood area?"

Of the votes cast, 84.28% voted ‘yes’, 15.33% voted ‘no’, and five of the ballot papers were rejected. The overall turnout was 20.4%. A person was entitled to vote if, at the time of the referendum, they met the eligibility criteria to vote in a local election for the area and lived in the referendum area.

As a result, the plan now forms part of Richmond's statutory development plan and will be used alongside the Council's own planning documents to determine planning applications in the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Area.

A copy of the referendum version of the Neighbourhood Plan (which incorporates the modifications set out in the Council's Decision Statement), can be viewed below: 

Further information on the referendum is also published on the Referendums page.

Decision Statement

Following the conclusion of the examination of the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan, on Monday 3 September 2018, the Council have decided to accept all of the Examiner's recommended modifications as set out in his Report. These are considered necessary to ensure the plan meets the 'basic conditions' and other legal requirements. The Decision Statement recommends that the plan should now proceed to a referendum.

Examination of draft Neighbourhood Plan

The Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum submitted their draft Neighbourhood Plan to the Council on 14 September 2017.

The Council and the Forum collectively appointed Mr John Slater BA (Hons) DMS MRTPI to conduct an examination into the draft Neighbourhood Plan to assess whether it meets the required 'basic conditions'. Mr Slater considered all of the 'submission documents', as well as all of the representations made during a six-week public consultation, and has recommended that the draft Neighbourhood Plan, as modified by his recommendations, should now proceed to referendum. Mr Slater's conclusions and recommendations are outlined in full in his Examiner's Report. 

Examination documents

During his examination of the draft Neighbourhood Plan, Mr Slater had regard to the following 'submission documents':

The draft Plan was subject to a public consultation from 6 December 2017 to 26 January 2018. As part of his examination, Mr Slater also considered all of the representations received during this consultation, which are available to view below:

The Council provided Mr Slater with a number of additional documents to aid with his examination, such as the borough’s Local Plan. For reference, the Council has produced a complete Index of the Examination and Supporting documents (pdf, 33 KB), which includes links to the relevant web pages where these are available online.

Having completed an initial review of the submission documents, Mr Slater contacted the Council and the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum, the qualifying body, on 30 April 2018 with a number of questions regarding the plan. This document can be downloaded and viewed below:

The Forum and the Council independently provided responses to Mr Slater on 8 May. These can be viewed below:

Following consideration of these responses, Mr Slater contacted the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum on 16 May with the following further query. This query and the Forum’s response are available below:

In this document, the Examiner also makes reference to his concerns that the required screening of the Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA) was not carried out in accordance with the legal requirements. Mr Slater took up this issue directly with the Council, who have prepared a new screening report specifically for the purposes of the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Plan. This was submitted to Natural England on 16 May to ensure that they are satisfied with its conclusions. A copy of the HRA Screening Report and Natural England’s response are available to view below. These documents have been submitted to both the Examiner and the Forum.

Previous consultation

The Forum held a public consultation on an earlier draft version of the Neighbourhood Plan (Pre-Submission version) for six weeks from 30 January to 10 March 2017. All comments received by the Forum were collated in a summary table and have informed the Submission version.

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames’ consultation response and subsequent feedback on the Forum’s proposed revisions are recorded in separate documents. These were submitted to the Examiner as appendices to the Forum’s Consultation Statement, and can be viewed below:

Approved Neighbourhood Forum and Area

Members of the local community in Ham and Petersham applied to Richmond Council to be formally designated as a Neighbourhood Forum and to set the boundary of their Neighbourhood Area in April 2013. A public consultation on the Forum and Area applications took place from 3 May until 14 June 2013.

On 16 January 2014, the Council approved the designation of the Neighbourhood Area and the Neighbourhood Forum.

The approved application and a map of the area in which the neighbourhood planning powers apply can be viewed below.

Download the applications and all relevant information:

In addition, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames and the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum have agreed and signed a Memorandum of Understanding(pdf, 1175KB) relating to a strategic approach in respect of the Thames Policy Area adjacent to the river.

Active Neighbourhood Cycling and Walking Feasibility Study

Following the adoption of the Neighbourhood Plan, the Neighbourhood Forum have commissioned transport consultants PJA and Sustrans to undertake a cycling and walking feasibility study. This directly builds on ‘Community Proposal 1’ from the Neighbourhood Plan, and is intended to help guide the council and developers when making infrastructure investments. This project was delivered by the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum, and has been funded through the Council’s Community Fund programme.

Further information

You can find more information on the Ham and Petersham Neighbourhood Forum website or contact info@hamandpetershamforum.org.

Alternatively, if you have any questions or comments for the Council, please use the following contact details:

Telephone: 020 8891 1411
Email: LocalPlan@richmond.gov.uk

Up to: Neighbourhood Planning

Updated: 04 January 2021

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